Intelligent Fixtures Unsynchronized

[LxTRex]

Hey CB,

I've lurked around here a bit whenever I needed some info when I was a student, but now that I'm out in the real world without someone to direct all my questions to, I figured I'd sign up.

I recently started working at a venue that has 12 (almost) brand new Elation 15R Platinum Spot Pros but they aren't working as well as I'd like. Specifically, there is a definite issue with their timings. Sometimes color changes won't happen together, stage left will shift and then stage right a half second later. This happens with gobo and prism as well. This is all assuming 0 count.

I thought it might be the console, but a touring LD who swears by the Avolites Pearl (2004 model) said he has never had that problem with the console before. He suggested checking the color flags (as that was the problem he was specifically having). But the latency isn't always in the same direction which makes me skeptical of that being the problem.

I don't think there is a terminator up there (again, recently started and haven't had to service them yet), could that be causing the problem?

I also don't think the DMX run is too long, it's routed through the building but it's not that big of a place; even if they took a convoluted path installing, it still couldn't be more than a couple hundred feet.

That's all I've got. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Russ

 

[chawalang]

Realistically you can go about 1,000 feet before you need the signal boosted, in that case you can use an opto. I would look up the pdf for the manual for the fixture online and see if there are various settings in the menu. Sounds to me like you may have different seeing applied in different fixtures. make sure that all of the fixtures are patched to the same personality in the console and it is the most up to date personality. Another possibility is that the software in the fixture may be older. the fixture may need to have updated software applied.

You mat want to by pass the installed dmx home run and set up the console next to the fixtures and going directly into the first one to see if that changes anything.

Doing a factory reset on the fixture wouldn't be a bad idea either.

While I know some may disagree with me, I always put a DMX terminator at the end of my for movers. It boned me once a decade ago and I'm kinda paranoid about it now. I always have a few dmx terminators my pelican case on show site.

Is there anything else in this dmx line?

 

[mikeydoesstuff]

have you tried changing your line order? If SR reacts a moment after SL, maybe your center left fixture is outputting slow for whatver reason. (this is a partially educated guess)

 

[DavidNorth]

I think you are going to find that this is either a console or fixture issue. Certainly the order of DMX cabling is not the issue nor is the length of the data link or the quality of the signal.

There are a couple of ways to narrow this down. Start by setting all the fixtures to the same DMX start address. If the fixtures all do the same thing at the same time, then there is no issue with the fixtures. If they react randomly or differently than each other, then this is a fixture issue.

Another way to test this is to leave the fixtures as they are currently addressed but do the same instant change test with another, newer and possibly different brand console.

An immediate change of DMX levels, across a wide range of addresses, is not a small feat of software and data management. Changes to color flags, patterns, etc that have a small amount of change timing to them is much easier to make happen in software and hardware. Keep in mind that with DMX and Ethernet protocols, since they are serial in nature and the changes are non-sequential, immediate data changes require some design work to make them happen at the right time and with no delay.

It is completely possible that a 11 plus year-old console is just not made to deal with this control demand.

Please let us know what you find.

David

 

[techieman33]

I think you are going to find that this is either a console or fixture issue. Certainly the order of DMX cabling is not the issue nor is the length of the data link or the quality of the signal.

There are a couple of ways to narrow this down. Start by setting all the fixtures to the same DMX start address. If the fixtures all do the same thing at the same time, then there is no issue with the fixtures. If they react randomly or differently than each other, then this is a fixture issue.

Another way to test this is to leave the fixtures as they are currently addressed but do the same instant change test with another, newer and possibly different brand console.

An immediate change of DMX levels, across a wide range of addresses, is not a small feat of software and data management. Changes to color flags, patterns, etc that have a small amount of change timing to them is much easier to make happen in software and hardware. Keep in mind that with DMX and Ethernet protocols, since they are serial in nature and the changes are non-sequential, immediate data changes require some design work to make them happen at the right time and with no delay.

It is completely possible that a 11 plus year-old console is just not made to deal with this control demand.

Please let us know what you find.

David

A 2004 pearl shouldn't have any issues at all with 12 movers. I've seen them run much larger rigs with no problems at all. That isn't to say there isn't something wrong with the console, but if it's in good shape you shouldn't have any issues at all.

 

[DavidNorth]

Is there anything in the DMX path such as a repeater, optosplitter, network, houselight system, backup processor?

David